


Brighter

by florisuga



Category: Monsta X (Band), No.MERCY (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-05 06:41:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10299977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/florisuga/pseuds/florisuga
Summary: Hyunwoo has proven his skills as a dancer time and again, and Kihyun has total confidence in his own abilities as a vocalist. He and Hyunwoo are the best among the trainees--they should be unstoppable.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [kpopolymfics2017](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/kpopolymfics2017) collection. 



> This fic was written for K-Pop Olymfics 2017. Olymfics is a challenge in which participants write fics based on prompt sets and compete against other teams of writers, organized by genre. 
> 
> This is Team Canon’s fic for the following prompt set:  
>  **WJSN – "Secret"**  
> [lyrics](https://colorcodedlyrics.com/2016/08/cosmic-girls-ujusonyeo-secret-bimiliya) | [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uJxJ7tSi1w) | [supplementary](https://www.flickr.com/photos/carinaauroraphotography/30417190764/in/pool-if-you-leave/) [prompts](http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/olymficsmod/37777224/1726/1726_900.jpg)
> 
> The other 2 fics for this prompt can be found in the collection. Competition winners are chosen by the audience, so please rate this fic using [this survey](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSejTta7HJt3w1HCN3rmzG-f2ctHuZ5aB2ue93kL2Rj94RmIDg/viewform)!

  
_"It's not time yet... I still don't know you."_

On a superficial level, Kihyun knows Hyunwoo. They've put in enough hours in the practice room and vocal lessons and preparations for evaluations for Kihyun to know that Hyunwoo has the skills to deserve the debut that they've all been fighting toward. Hyunwoo is talented and driven and undeniably _good,_ much like Kihyun, but still so different in the way they're viewed by others. Kihyun is respected, but Hyunwoo is admired, and Kihyun had never realized there was a difference before they began training together.

"You don't really look like _Number One_ material," a judge tells Hyunwoo, who is the first of the trainees to stand before _No.MERCY's_ panel for judgment. The distance between them is empty and cold; the lighting doesn't reach there, as if the building is deserted except for the trainees and the panel of artists who Kihyun and the others one day hope to be. 

Hyunwoo tells them, apparently unfazed, "I got lucky."

There's a sudden, sharp sting in Kihyun's chest, under the label identifying him as someone only worthy of the number eight, at the implication that Hyunwoo is not there because of actual skill, but because of luck. It's insulting.

"Luck is always a factor in these competitions," Kwangji says once they're walking off the stage.

"Cross your fingers," Gunhee says. He sounds playful, for the most part. 

_"As if I'm bewitched by you, I get pushed and pulled around."_

Kihyun and Hyunwoo being paired for a one-on-one battle is unsurprising, because as far as Kihyun can see, there are no significant weaknesses between the two of them. Hyunwoo has proven his skills as a dancer time and again, and Kihyun has total confidence in his own abilities as a vocalist. He and Hyunwoo are the top vocalist and the top dancer among the trainees--they should be unstoppable. They are the best, and Kihyun knows that above all, people want a show.

Any illusion of this being an easy win is shattered once the work actually begins.

"We should do something that shows off our vocals," Kihyun suggests as he scrolls through the music library of his phone for something that feels _right_. Hyunwoo shifts, uncomfortable, and Kihyun quickly adds, "Something that you can dance to."

He knows there is irritation in his voice, and part of him hopes that Hyunwoo really feels it, because Kihyun doesn't understand how the two of them are so similar and opposite. Kihyun knows that he can do this, that Hyunwoo can do this, that there is immense pressure of anticipation insisting that they can do this, and that they will be out of this world. There is no reason for doubt.

"I think it could save both of us," Kihyun says, and means it. Of course he wants to win--that is what he's here for, after all--and he wants to win against Hyunwoo in particular. He wants that _Number One_ badge, and he's going to turn this round in his favor and show off the kind of powerful vocals he knows will earn it.

Hyunwoo sighs and relaxes. After a few moments he says, "Alright."

_"I'm so scared that you'll treat me however you want, so it makes me act strong."_

The catch to Kihyun's strategy is that Hyunwoo's determination is a double-edged sword. Even though Hyunwoo is following Kihyun's plan, now, Kihyun is still on guard; Hyunwoo is only doing what he believes will benefit him the most, too. The two of them are a team second and competitors first--the goal here is to look for weaknesses in each other. Kihyun knows that this is what Hyunwoo is thinking, because this is what Kihyun is thinking. They have always been mirrors of each other, after all. It is rocky, and dangerous, and exciting.

Hyunwoo leads their dance practices. As much of an edge that Kihyun wants to have, dancing is not his strong point, and the goal of this mission is to win as much as it is to impress the judges. Deep in Kihyun's stomach there's a constant weight, though, reminding him that dancing is Hyunwoo's element--he spins and bends and glides in ways that defy gravity, as though there is nothing holding him to the rules of this earth, and it is both reassuring and intimidating to perform with him. Kihyun hopes that Hyunwoo feels the same way when Kihyun sings.

As they practice, Kihyun takes note of the strengths and flaws in Hyunwoo just as Hyunwoo must do of him. The changes to their routine continue, and Kihyun stumbles and struggle to keep pace. They work on their harmony, but Hyunwoo can't quite hit some of the notes. And Kihyun, a good teammate, makes sure Hyunwoo knows about it.

_"As if I'm bewitched by you, I get pushed and pulled around."_

Minhyuk and Seokwon enter the practice room suddenly, without knocking. Minhyuk says, "Hey, tell us what you think of these songs."

Hyunwoo turns off the music he and Kihyun had been dancing to as Minhyuk turns the volume up on his phone. Kihyun only has to listen for a few seconds to know that whatever songs the two of them picked are nothing special. They're boring, and Kihyun says as much.

"Just listen," Minhyuk tells him.

In the mirrors, Kihyun can see their reflections: himself and Hyunwoo, sweating and breathless, and Minhyuk and Seokwon, expectant and unbothered and wide awake. What little view there is of the night sky behind the blinds of the windows peeks through.

"It suits you," Hyunwoo tells them, finally. Minhyuk and Seokwon grin, apparently satisfied, as if this is what they were waiting to hear.

After they leave, Hyunwoo presses _play_ and "Bang Bang" resounds through Kihyun's body once again. The music is loud enough to drown their voices, so Kihyun asks, "What do you really think?"

Hyunwoo tells him, "That is what I really think." And then, he adds, "We've got this, though."

Kihyun smirks.

_"Pretending to not care... it's just too hard for me."_

When the time comes and Kihyun is _finally_ standing on the stage with Hyunwoo before their performance, the judges say, _this is a performance-oriented song_ and _it seems like Hyunwoo has the advantage, how do you feel about that, Kihyun?_

Kihyun does not look at Hyunwoo although he knows, somehow, that Hyunwoo is looking right at him. Kihyun thinks of their time practicing together, and how he had struggled with the choreography and keeping himself steady and how had it had seemed, as the judges suggest, that Hyunwoo has the advantage.

But Kihyun will not lose; there is a storm inside of him that has been building ever since his first missed step, and he will not let anyone know that he's _nervous._ So, he says, "I don't feel that way at all," and gets ready.

_"All night, I tossed and turned. My heart feels off, I'm starting to get snappy--what do I do?"_

As Kihyun falls into bed, sore and exhausted, mattress molding around him like it will never let go, he stares at the distorted light of the city mostly obscured outside his window.

Hyunwoo sighs, deep, tired, and exactly how Kihyun feels right now. It's a reminder that he doesn't need of how spectacularly they _failed;_ there was no reason their performance should have gone wrong, but it _did._ He hears the voices of the panel cutting into them, deep, and thunderous, that he and Hyunwoo have no right to call themselves the best.

The sound grates on Kihyun, short and innocent as it is. Kihyun forces himself to bite his tongue with his last remaining bit of energy, but the sound echoes in his mind until the blackness behind his window lightens and, finally, the replay of him and Hyunwoo being torn apart before the judges can't keep him awake any longer.

_"(Honestly, I’m afraid.)"_

When Kwangji gets eliminated weeks later, Kihyun takes it harder than he lets show. He feels like everything is falling around him, like _he's_ falling, and he stands in the hallway with his shoulder against the wall, like he's indifferent and he is not trying to find some stability in the world. Beside him, Kwangji packs his bags, carefully tucking away his clothes and gadgets and memories of their time spent training together.

"You promised to survive," Kihyun tells him. "You said you would, this morning."

Kwangji breathes a sound that might be mistaken for a laugh by someone who didn't know any better. He says, "I will." He says, "So will all of you."

Kihyun doesn't really understand what he means until weeks later when Yoonho is the one chosen to leave. There's something different about him during those final days. A kind of calm, as if they are not all in the midst of trying to survive a storm, as if he knows something critical that Kihyun does not.

"It's been good, being with you guys," Yoonho says before he leaves.

It strikes Kihyun, lightning bolt quick, what Yoonho and Kwangji are talking about.

"Yoonho will be okay," Kihyun tells Seokwon. "So will we."

_"Should I pretend to be upset? Should I pretend to be mad? I'm the only one not knowing what to do."_

As they first start practicing together in preparation for the show's final performance, the movements of learning choreography and practicing until their lungs are burning are the same, but the atmosphere is so different. Along the way, they become something like a team.

Kihyun watches everyone watch themselves in the mirrors with a new kind of intensity, and Kihyun's mind is running too, evaluating and criticizing. Instead of fighting each other to win, this time, there's more of a driving of themselves to do better. _No.MERCY_ is ending, but this is still about survival.

He finds himself alone in the practice room, sometimes, when everyone else is busy rehearsing elsewhere in the building. Other times, someone will join him, and they will sing, or dance, or take a moment to breathe and remind themselves that _this is happening._

"What are you thinking about?" Kihyun asks Hyunwoo when it's just the two of them in the room. They've been practicing for a couple of hours, now, but it has been otherwise quiet.

It's different when it's any of the others there, Kihyun thinks. Even when there's a lull with them, the feeling is relaxed. The silence with Hyunwoo, however, stretches for miles, empty and uncomfortable.

Kihyun supposes it's understandable. Things have been rocky ever since the two of them first teamed together. It was a performance that Kihyun knows he will never forget.

"Not much," Hyunwoo says. He takes a long sip from his water bottle and breathes, deep, already steadying his breath while Kihyun is still gasping.

After these past few months of everything that has happened, and everything that is to come, there is no way that there isn't much on anybody's mind. They're almost a team, Kihyun wants to say. They need to _talk_ to each other to make this work. They're the only ones they may have to count on, someday.

Instead, Kihyun says, "There has to be something."

Hyunwoo leans back against the wall, lets his water bottle rest beside him, and stays silent for so long that Kihyun almost gives into impatience and storms off. Before Kihyun decides he has had enough, Hyunwoo says, simply, "Things are changing."

Kihyun's immediate impulse is to shoot his words down, because it seems as though Hyunwoo is treating this as something unimportant. As if this is not going to affect anything in the long run, as if seven friends in their group of trainees are not about to spend the foreseeable future together with no one else to truly lean on except each other. He only sees fit to offer a few weightless words, just as he always has before, short but absolutely true.

And then it strikes Kihyun during that moment of pause that maybe Hyunwoo does understand the gravity of the situation after all.

Unsure of what to say, Kihyun tells him, "Yeah."

_"It’s a secret."_

On the stage in front of the judges following their final performance, Kihyun feels for the first time in this entire competition that he is floating. All of the time that he had spent with these people, his friends, fellow trainees, had brought him down to Earth--he had to _fight_ to earn his place on this final platform, orbited by stage lights and cameras capturing every moment. And he is there, in the middle of it all. He cannot bring himself to raise his head and glance at his new teammates beside him, but he knows that he is not alone.

Kihyun can see from the corner of his eye that the screens surrounding them are decorated with starlight and their own images in confirmation of their status as confirmed members of Starship Entertainment's new group.

 _Congratulations,_ the members of the panel tell them, _and remember that the seven of you are fighting together, now._

When filming ends, Kihyun hears Hoseok say, "Oh my God."

The stars on the screens continue drifting. Kihyun finally turns to look at everyone beside him and says, simply, "We can't get lost."

Somehow, his gaze settles on Hyunwoo, who stands silent and proud.


End file.
